The man who for 45 years held the drum chair behind Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band and also served as the longtime bandleader for Late Night with Conan O’Brien is set to present classic rock hits through his lively show — Max Weinberg’s Jukebox — on the Holland Theatre stage this weekend.
True to its name, the Jukebox performance enables audience members to select songs from a video menu with more than 200 selections, from the Rolling Stones to Springsteen and The E Street Band’s biggest hits. The pieces will be played live by Weinberg and his crack four-piece group during the 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, performance.
“It’s a party; not really a concert,” Weinberg said this week. “The audiences picks out all the songs. We began in April of 2017 and have done about 280 shows. I love the spontaneity.
“The audience picks out the songs in real time. We do not know what we’ll play in advance. Audiences seem to love the “American Girl” Beatles songs, “Highway To Hell” — all of them really.”
At age 70, Weinberg is not slowing down and is maintaining a busy performing schedule, traveling around the U.S. in the upcoming months with his Jukebox show. With the many concert cancellations of 2020, he said being in front of a live audience again has been invigorating for him and his band.
“It’s been wonderful; I missed it,” he said. “Musicians get paid for the 22 hours a day they’re not playing — the show we do for free. Also, when I play I feel 14 years old again.”
Weinberg was born in Newark, N.J. and moved to the suburbs as a child. Playing music, and even making money through his performances, has been an integral part of his live from a young age.
“It was a pretty normal 1950’s life. The usual, worrying about nuclear war, polio (really), but then I found music early. I began playing and getting paid for it around 7 years old, sort of a novelty act kid drummer.”
While he first attended college planning to be a lawyer, the professional drummer but got his big break in music in 1974 when he won an audition to become the drummer for Springsteen.
Weinberg became a mainstay of Springsteen’s long concert performances. Springsteen dissolved the band in 1989, but he later reformed the E Street Band once again in 1999 for a series of tours and albums.
In his Born to Run autobiography released in 2016, Springsteen describes why he and “the Mighty Max” Weinberg work so well together during their shows.
“Onstage, Max goes beyond listening to what I’m saying, signaling; he ‘hears’ what I’m thinking, feeling. He anticipates my thoughts as they come rolling full bore toward the drum riser. It’s a near telepathy that comes from years of playing and living together.
“It’s a real-world miracle and it’s why people love musicians. They show us how deeply we can experience one another’s minds and hearts, and how perfectly we can work in congress. With Max at my back, the questions are answered before they’re asked.”
During 1993, Weinberg began his role as bandleader of The Max Weinberg 7 for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Weinberg’s drums-driven jump blues sound and his role as a comic foil grew alongside the show, giving him a second career.
“It was a great job. I had a great bunch of musicians working for me and I loved doing the comedy bits,” he said.
In 2014, the performer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band.
Tickets for Saturday’s show are available for purchase at the Holland Theatre’s website, www.thehollandtheatre.org, or by calling the box office (937) 592-9002. Tickets range in price from $25 to $45, and $5 youth tickets for 17 and younger also are available.
